Several members of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed cabinet were hit with swatting calls, bomb threats and other harassing calls late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, according to the FBI.
The agency issued a statement on Wednesday, saying the bureau was “aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees, and we are working with our law enforcement partners.”
Incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also confirmed the incidents, calling them “violent, un-American threats.”
“Law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted,” she said in a statement Wednesday, thanking them for their “swift action.”
Leavitt did not say exactly which members of Trump’s incoming administration were hit with the harassing calls, but Fox News reported nearly a dozen cabinet nominees were affected. None of the threats appeared to be legitimate.
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump’s nominee for United Nations ambassador, confirmed Wednesday that her upstate home in Saratoga County was targeted by a bomb threat. Stefanik said she and her family weren’t at the residence at the time, but were driving home from Washington, D.C. when she was informed of the threat.
Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who last week withdrew his name from consideration for Trump’s attorney general position, was hit with his own bomb threat Wednesday morning, according to PunchBowl News. Cops searched his Florida residence after reports of a pipe bomb, but Gaetz wasn’t home at the time.
Many of Trump’s picks for his second administration — including Gaetz — have been heavily criticized, and several have a history of sexual assault and harassment allegations.
Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense, was accused of sexual assault in a 2017 California incident. Police did not pursue charges against Hegseth, though he paid the woman in an out-of-court settlement.
Linda McMahon, nominated for secretary of education, was named in a lawsuit alongside her husband, Vince, that said they enabled “rampant sexual abuse” of young ring boys at their pro wrestling company, WWE. She has denied the allegations.